Vampires
Vampires are both a class and a type of undead monster. A vampire is a being from folklore that subsists by feeding on the vital force (generally in the form of blood) of the living. In European folklore, vampires were undead beings that often visited loved ones and caused mischief or deaths in the neighbourhoods they inhabited while they were alive. Description Vampires in Monster High follow the post-1970 traditions of vampire lore, though with a focus on classical vampires. They have pointy ears, pale skin, fangs, and dress in Victorian fashion or uniforms. Vampires who drink human blood have red eyes and vegetarian vampires have pink eyes. They lack a reflection and don't show up on film either (though there's an app that does get them to show up on film),[[Dawn of the Dance diaries#Clawdeen Wolf|Clawdeen Wolf's Dawn of the Dance diary]] can't go anywhere uninvited,"Fright On!" can't stand garlic (supposedly, it gives them pimples),"Hyde and Shriek" sleep in coffins, can turn into bats (an ability they acquire during puberty), can command bats,"Monster Mashionals Part 2" and can't stand sunlight very well (requiring them to use sun cream factor 500, parasols, and the like).[[Sweet 1600 Q & A#Draculaura|Draculaura's Sweet 1600 Q & A]] A trait unique to the ''Monster High'' book series is that vampires are almost always cold. Vampires like Batsy Claro have pink skin, larger and wider pointy ears, bat like wings on their backs, and slightly larger fangs. Older vampires like Dracula in generation 1 has larger pointy ears, and longer fangs, this is also the cases for Stoker, and vampires that are older then Draculaura. It's possible in monster high much older vampires develop much larger fangs and ears since how vampires physically age in monster high is unknown. Monster High The Monster High vampires drink blood, but they can take iron supplements to avoid having to. So far, it is unexplained where and how blood for consumption is acquired. The main vampire of the franchise, Draculaura, deviates a little from the above description. Despite being of appropriate age, she has yet to acquire the ability to turn into a bat and the fact she still can't does affect her sense of confidence."The Good, the Bat and the Fabulous""Why Do Ghouls Fall in Love?" though unconfirmed, this inability could be linked to her status as a vegetarian. She notes in her 'Basic' diary that her being a vegetarian is linked to various other un-vampiric aspects of her life and that this is in response to an event in her past, as she states that she's "never going back to the way she used to be". Her father strongly disagrees with her refusal to act more like a vampire, but he doesn't force her to change. Draculaura was born human but was turned into a vampire by Dracula, and he adopted her as Draculaura's birth parent's are deceased. As per traditional West European vampire lore, all Monster High vampires are aristocratic and wealthy. This is in part because they make others work for them, either by manipulation or force. Werewolves used to be their slaves in earlier days, and the manipulatable zombies are still an easily tapped resource. The vampire Valentine differs a little in his choice of servants as he employs three clouds, who also do seem to be more autonomous in their position relative to their 'master'. Werewolves as servants as well as opponents of vampires is a trope established in West European vampire fiction by 1991's World of Darkness, whereas vampires controlling the weak-of-mind dates back to Dracula. Vampires are ruled by the Vampire Queen. Vampires are seen to be able to reproduce as Fangelica VanBat was born into the royal VanBat family, in generation 2. It's only implied that vampires can reproduce in generation 1. Like in folklore, vampires have to be invited in to a house or public place like a school. Despite an abundant pool of available vampires as potential parents, only Draculaura appears to have a parent that exists outside of Monster High fiction: Dracula. Originally, the character was to be called Ula D, but this was changed to Draculaura, with Ula D, becoming her nickname. Draculaura could be a simple play on the name Dracula, but it might also be a reference to the human protagonist of Carmilla, whose name is Laura. The only other vampire character with a name that is a reference is Bram Devein, whose given name recalls Bram Stoker, the writer of Dracula. As for Dracula in Monster High, Draculaura notes in her 'School's Out' diary that her father "was already a vampire back when togas were first considered fashionable". Togas are believed to have become part of Roman culture at around 600 BC, which would make him at least 2600 years old. She also notes that the vampire usually thought of as her father was actually a con-monster who once rented their castle in Transylvania and went around pretending to be Dracula himself. It isn't quite clear what Draculaura means by this, as there are many "Draculas" (the usual Dracula, Orlok, or Alucard, for instance) who could be the fake she writes about. Since the subject of the fake Dracula comes up in an age-related matter, it seems the section is meant to refer to a Vlad III-interpretation of Dracula, who was born in 1431 and would thus be younger than Draculaura herself, but this can't be taken for certain. Perhaps unintended, the matter of the fake Dracula also brings up doubt about the Monster High canonicity of many other Dracula-related vampires, primarily the Sisters. Draculaura is known to have cousins living in Transylvania, where she herself lived until she and Dracula had to flee the region in the 17th century. For her to have cousins, Dracula is to have siblings. There are no canonically confirmed siblings to Dracula in any significant medium, but it is not impossible that Monster High interprets the Sisters as siblings of Dracula. In the Universal version of Dracula, which is the version most influential to Monster High, Dracula has a daughter and possibly a son. Neither of these exist in the Monster High universe, in which Draculaura is an only-child. She also does not appear to have been designed with the aforementioned daughter, Marya Zaleska, in mind. The two both enjoy painting, but this is only a minor detail of Draculaura's character and appears a coincidence sooner than anything more significant. The vampire sisters Rose and Blanche Van Sangre are identified as RomaniThe actual word used for the Van Sangre sisters is "g*psy", but since this is an ethnic slur, the opts to refer to them as Romani vampires. The Romani people have a history of being associated with vampires in East Europe, where vampirism was seen as something to befall deviating individuals, which Romani were automatically considered to be. In West Europe, it is Dracula that established the association, as his bodyguards on his way back to Transylvania are identified as Romani. They are human though and not confirmed to know they are working for a vampire, though the themes of xenophobia in the novel do aim for an interpretation of 'fellow evil beings'. Rose and Blanche Van Sangre play into this association. Abilities * Bat Transformation: Vampires can transform into bats at will. Vampires can only gain this ability when they do something outrageously of a good deed. In the original monster high it's also been said in a webisode that vampires can turn into bats when they hit puberty(But this was only mentioned once). This does not seem to be the case in Welcome to Monster High. In Welcome to Monster High, each vampire has a different smoke color when transforming into a bat; Draculaura's is pink and Dracula's is dark purple. * Blood Sucking: Vampires can suck out blood though their fangs. It's also implied that vampires can turn humans into vampires as well. * Levitation: Vampires are able to levitate at a small height. * Hanging from surfaces: Vampires can hang from any ceiling no matter what material it is made of. * Supersonic Hearing: Batsy can listen to sounds from a very long distance, and instantly recognize what they are, due to sensorial waves she receives through her ears, specialized to do so. This comes in handy when protecting her jungle. This is most likely an ability only vampire bat type vampires have. * Echo Location: Vampire bat type vampires can project a powerful sound from their mouth that resembles that of a bat screeching, that is powerful enough to destroy even layers of metal. * Voice Throwing: Batsy, can also use this skill to project her voice to somewhere or something else, which to other people will seem as if the sound comes from some place aside from her, a distraction maneuver that comes in handy. * Flight: Most vampires in their bat form can fly, but if a vampire bat type vampire is like Batsy then, they have wings on their backs to help them fly. *'Immortality': Vampires are immortal. Weaknesses *'Sun Light': Vampires need to wear sunscreen when they go outside or carry around parasols when they go outside since they can burn up, very easily. *'Garlic': Garlic can cause vampires to form pimples, if it has any other effect on them is unknown. *'Invited In': Vampires have to be invited in before they can enter certain locations. Known Vampires * Draculaura * Dracula * Gory Fangtell * Bram Devein * Justin Biter * Stoker * Elissabat * Rose and Blanche Van Sangre * Thad * Kieran Valentine * Kieran Valentine's mother * Draculaura's cousins * Vampassadors * Lord Stoker's servants * Batsy Claro * Fangelica VanBat * Olympia Wingfield(Hybrid) Etymology After Austria gained control of northern Serbia and Oltenia with the Treaty of Passarowitz in 1718, officials noted the local practice of exhuming bodies and "killing vampires". Reports hereof, prepared between 1725 and 1732, received widespread publicity. Specifically, it was the Serbian word "вампир" ("vampir"), used for Arnold Paole, a purported vampire from the time period when Serbia was incorporated into the Austrian Empire, that made it into the West European languages. What the word ultimately means is unknown, though there are two theories. Almost all Slavic languages possess some variation of the word, such as "upir", "wąpierz", and "upiór". One theory thus states that the Slavic languages have adapted the word from a Turkic term for "evil supernatural entity" (commonly simplified as "witch") , which is the Tatar word "ubyr". The word "upir" as a term for vampire is found for the first time in written form in 1047 in a letter to a Novgorodian prince referring to him as "Upir Lichyj" ("Wicked Vampire"). Another theory is that the Slavic variations come from the Slovak verb "vrepiť sa", which means "stick to" or "thrust into", which would make "upír" translateable as "someone who thrusts or bites". Following the popularization of vampires in horror stories in the early 19th century, the word "vampire" has been adapted to represent two monster definitions. Primarily, "vampire" refers to the common Western idea of a blood-sucking undead with fangs and a dislike for sunlight. Secondarily, the word can be used to describe the collective of vampiric creatures abundantly present in the mythology of about every culture. In this sense, the word is a little arbitrarily applied. A vampire of this kind is not really required to drink blood, only to feed on something either the living or the pure possess, although there are also many creatures who do this, like zombies, who are not called vampires. Gallery Draculaura™.png|Draculaura Elissabat™.png|Elissabat Dracula WTMH.jpg|Dracula Fangelica Basic Profile Art.png|Fangelica VanBat Gory Fangtell.jpg|Gory Fangtell Profile art - Batsy Claro.png|Batsy Claro Fright On! - new arrival Bram.jpg|Bram Devein QIZQlVxaDt.jpg|Kieran Valentine Profile art - Olympia Wingfield.png|Olympia Wingfield Half vampire half centaur Stoker.jpg|Stoker Download (3).jpg|Thad Don't Cheer the Reaper - Smogsnorts vampires think.jpg|Smogsnorts Vampyr Academy students Fright On! vampires grumpy.jpg Fright On! - vampires growl start.jpg Fright On! - vampires growl end.jpg Fright On! - vampires bathroom.jpg Couple.png 4.jpg maxresdefault (1)Were.jpg Concept art - FCA noblevampiress portrait.jpg Fright On! - vampire fearleaders.jpg Fright On! - vampire bowtie full.jpg Fright On! - werewolf vampire second.jpg Notes * Mattel has trademarks standing for Bram Devein and Gory Fangtell. Bram's trademark dates from around the premier of "Fright On!", though has yet to be used. * Both John Polidori's The Vampyre and Mary Shelley's Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus are based on a reading of the 1812 horror story collection Fantasmagoriana in the summer of 1816 at the Villa Diodati by Lake Geneva in Switzerland. * The Twilight book and movie series has been referenced in the cartoon series with the TwiHard series, which has been mentioned in "Shock and Awesome" and "Fright On!". * The Monster High monster hunter family the Van Hellscreams is based on post-novel interpretations of Dracula's Abraham Van Helsing. External links *https://www.history.com/topics/folklore/vampire-history *https://mythology.net/mythical-creatures/vampire/ References Category:Monster history Category:Vampires Category:Shapeshifters